This company stood up to FMLA abuse. You can too!

 

What are some of the signs of employee abuse of leave taken under the Family and Medical Leave Act?

• Monday and Friday FMLA days
• FMLA to avoid scheduled overtime
• FMLA after being denied a request for day(s) off
• FMLA immediately before/after holidays and scheduled PTO

In Sharif v. United Airlines, Inc. (opinion here), the plaintiff had accrued a block of roughly 20 days off. That is, except for one day in the middle of that block, when he was scheduled to work. Now this plaintiff previously been approved for intermittent leave for panic attacks.

So, when, at 1 AM on the 1 day of 20 that he was scheduled to work, the plaintiff called in an intermittent FMLA day, the employer got suspicious. After HR learned about the suspicious circumstances and that the plaintiff had taken FMLA leave under similar circumstances in September 2013, an investigation ensued —

UNBELIEVABLE! A 2-RUN HOME RUN JUST TIED GAME 7 OF THE WORLD SERIES IN THE 8TH INNING!

(Yeah, we’ll finish this post tomorrow…)